Consultations & Publications Archives - The Society of Pension Professionals : The Society of Pension Professionals

SPP’s response to the DWP consultation on Retirement CDC 2025

This response acknowledges that there are arguments for and against Retirement CDC schemes being made available in the retail environment; strongly supports the introduction of a ‘cohorting’ approach; and agrees that there is a strong case for a charge cap to be introduced.

If the Government introduces their Guided Retirement requirements on DC schemes in advance of Retirement CDC being made available, schemes may not have much appetite to revisit their Guided Retirement options in the short term. This could represent a substantial missed opportunity.

Tags: CDC, Collective Defined Contribution, pension, Pensions, Retirement CDC, SPP,

03/12/2025

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SPP response to The Pensions Regulator’s Enforcement Strategy Consultation 2025

SPP's short response to The Pensions Regulator's Enforcement Strategy consultation, which expresses support for the broad thrust of the proposed changes whilst detailing some areas where unintended outcomes could arise and where further clarification would be helpful.

Tags: enforcement, pension, Pensions, regulation, SPP, The Pensions Regulator,

10/11/2025

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SPP response to the third State Pension Age (SPA) review

This SPP response to the government’s latest review of the SPA, highlights that if wider terms of reference, including the purpose of the State Pension, had been provided, this would have enabled more relevant factors to be considered and potentially better outcomes.

The response addresses questions relating to an increase in the SPA and proposals for an automatic adjustment mechanism too.

Tags: State Pension, State Pension Age,

22/10/2025

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SPP response to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Sub-Committee call for evidence on reforming inheritance tax

The Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) response to the
House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee
October 2025 call for evidence on reforming inheritance tax: unused pension funds and death benefits.

Tags: inheritance tax, legislation, Lords, pension, Pension Pots, Pensions, Tax,

07/10/2025

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SPP response to draft legislation on modernising and mandating tax adviser registration with HMRC

The SPP has two key concerns with this draft legislation – the proposed definition of “tax adviser” and therefore the scope of the legislation and the current omission of any exemption for pension professionals.

Tags: draft legislation, IHT, inheritance tax, legislation, pension, Pensions, Tax,

15/09/2025

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SPP response to draft Inheritance Tax on pensions legislation

This consultation response suggests various improvements to ensure this legislation better delivers the original policy intent and avoids unintended consequences.

Tags: IHT, inheritance tax, legislation, pension, Pensions, Tax,

15/09/2025

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SPP response to the FCA’s proposals for targeted support

The SPP supports the concept of targeted support for pensions and believes it could play a part in improving savings decisions and preferences, reducing fees and charges, and increasing consumer confidence.

However, our response seeks to highlight potential barriers to success and areas of concern, making various suggestions for improvement.

Tags: advice, guidance, pension, Pensions, targeted support,

28/08/2025

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SPP response to the Pension Schemes Bill Committee Call for Evidence

The SPP very much supports the Bill and most of its broad aims from PPF levy flexibility and surplus release to the concept of default decumulation and improving Value for Money for DC schemes. However, we have made various suggestions as to how the Bill could be improved and we fundamentally oppose the the reserve power for government to mandate investment in private market assets.

Tags: legislation, mandation, pension schemes act, pension schemes bill, Pensions, surplus release, value for money,

20/08/2025

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SPP response to MHCLG consultation “LGPS in England & Wales: Access & Fairness”

The SPP agrees with the government that these proposals will fundamentally improve fairness in and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

However, the SPP response also highlights the potential for “disruptive administrative impacts” given the numerous other projects being dealt with by the LGPS from dashboards to the McCloud remedy.

Tags: LGPS, local government pension scheme,

07/08/2025

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SPP Paper: Power in Principle? Balancing Mandation and Market Confidence (The Pension Schemes Bill)

This SPP Paper is a response to government plans to introduce a power in the Pension Schemes Bill that will allow them to dictate how pension funds invest by requiring a prescribed percentage of investment in UK productive assets.

Tags: compulsion, investment, mandation, Pensions, productive assets, productive finance, UK,

07/08/2025

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SPP Paper: Less friction, better transfers – creating a more agile risk transfer process

Although there have been many developments in the risk transfer process in recent years, there’s more that could be done in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness.

With this in mind, the SPP has published an insightful paper on how best to shape the future of the risk transfer process - “Less friction, better transfers: creating a more agile risk transfer process.”

Tags: Pensions, Risk transfer, transfer process; DB,

28/07/2025

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SPP response to the Treasury Select Committee Call for Evidence on “The use of AI in banking, pensions and other financial services”

There is widespread adoption of AI within the UK pensions industry, with 87% of respondents to a recent SPP survey confirming that AI is being used by their firm. However, the survey also revealed that more than three quarters of respondents (77%) currently used AI in only 1%-5% of their services, suggesting that there is great potential for future use. This response provides further detail about such usage.

11/04.2025

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